Karen Jensen of Shelby holds a paddle while speaking about concerns with potential pollution in the Coosa River associated with the proposed White Rock Quarries mining operation in Vincent during a public hearing on Thursday, March 20, 2014. (Martin J. Reed / mreed@al.com)

VINCENT, Alabama -- When talking about his concerns with White Rock Quarries' limestone mine planned
for Vincent, Ernest Woodall thinks of the decades-old Alabama Plating Company operation
that became a toxic superfund site in the rural Shelby County community.

"Alabama Plating,
where is it now? The people died. ... Young boys, they just died -- 20 years old
and just died," Woodall said during a public hearing tonight in Vincent about
the mining proposal.

Woodall questions if the same will happen with the
Florida-based White Rock Quarries.

"Whenever they go back to Florida or wherever they from,
I've got to live here. I've got to live here. I can't go nowhere else," he
said. "I got a half-acre. That's all I got. But I got my health. ... We live
happy. And we don't want nobody coming into our community that's going to
injure our health."

With about 150 in attendance, a couple dozen residents
from Vincent, neighboring Harpersville and elsewhere voiced their support or opposition concerning
the proposed mining operation during the two-hour-plus public hearing held by
the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

The meeting focused specifically on water and air permits
the agency is considering to issue to White Rock Quarries for the mining
operation, but many of the speakers used the opportunity to state their health concerns and other worries.

"The responsibility is now on you because once the water
is polluted and gone and the air is polluted, it's going to be too late to say
uh-oh," Charles Cantrell of Vincent told the state agency. "The responsibility
is yours."

Anne Gibbons, a party in litigation against the town over
the mining plan that ended with the Alabama Supreme Court ruling in favor of
the municipality in 2012, said more studies need to happen before the permits
are issued.

"Consideration of permits at this time is premature. I
urge you to have all the reports and everything in before you make a
determination," Gibbons said.

Remediation of the nearby superfund site must end before an industrial mining operation begins operation, she said. The
final report on the superfund site is not expected until mid-2015, she added.

Perry Cole, who owns a farm close to proposed quarry,
identified concerns with the carcinogen benzene that could result as a
byproduct of blasting at the mining site. "Combustion from blasting will send benzene
into our air and water," Cole said. "My concern is that benzene will poison my
well and the wells of others and enter the public water supply."

Cole also pointed to sinkholes that could happen due to
the mining operation and removal of groundwater. "This area of Shelby County has
numerous sinkholes caused by the underground erosion of the product this quarry
will produce: limestone," he said.

Harpersville Mayor Theoangelo Perkins worries about the mine's
truck route with 75 daily trips planned that will carry "hazardous materials"
through a neighborhood in his community that is a "heavily traveled pedestrian
area." He noted 75 trucks daily traveling through the area as part of the mine's planned operation.

"The Town of Harpersville was not consulted about this
route or anything else that would adversely affect our citizens," Perkins said,
pointing out a shorter, alternate route. "If we had known this maybe we would
have been involved earlier. It is unfair our citizens' lives will be put in
jeopardy" without consulting the town.

"It really boils down to pure arrogance. It is my duty and
my pleasure to represent the citizens of my town whose lives will be drastically
changed by this route," he added.

Frank Chitwood with the Coosa Riverkeeper organization
identified a lengthy list of concerns with the state's studies on the impacts
of discharging sediment into the Coosa River. He noted 645 pounds of sediment
entering the Coosa River or Spring Creek from two outfalls daily, 228,455
pounds annually and 22.85 million pounds of sediment over the quarry's 100-year
life.

Chitwood and others noted concerns about the effect on the
Shelby-Talladega Water Treatment Plant along the Coosa River near the discharge
site. "It appears the department has not considered what impacts this discharge
could have on the public water supply," he said

Holding an oar while speaking, Karen Jensen of Shelby
pointed to the water contamination experienced in West Virginia in past months.
"Neither the EPA, the state government or the industry protected these families
from fish kills or water contamination," she said. "We don't want to be reduced
to bathing with bottled water and we need our fish."

Of the 24 speakers during the public comment section, not
including the state agency and company representatives, five or so spoke in
favor of the project.

"White Rock has performed honorably and has done
everything in their possible control to answer all the environmental questions,"
said Carter Elliott of Harpersville. "I think the science is done. ... But the
value that this will bring to this community is not done. Over the years the
revenue that will come to this city will be huge" and benefit everyone.

Elliott and others in support of the project are ready for
the fighting in the town to end and the operation to begin. "The point being that the war is over, but nobody loses
in this war," he said. "I think the quality and character of this company will
add a lot to this community."

Vincent resident Robert Marler, who supports the mining
plan, said his family has lived in the community for more than 100 years. "The
company in question coming in for a quarry has already given substantial amounts
of money to the community," he said.

"The company is going to support the whole town, and the
tax base of the town has been going down for decades," Marler said, calling the
proposed operation a "great asset to the community."

Sam Simpson of Wilsonville said benzene is commonly found
in our everyday lives. "One of the highest levels of benzene is inside your
house," he said, pointing to detergents, paint, cigarette smoke and at gas
stations.

Simpson said he supports White Rock Quarries' plan. "I think it's going to bring a great benefit to the community
and the surrounding community," he said.